


Life's Alright in Devil Town

by Jennsepticeye



Category: Marble Hornets
Genre: M/M, TW for mentioned prescription abuse, Tim's paranoid and takes a lot of antipsychotics, not really in detail but better safe than sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-30
Updated: 2019-11-30
Packaged: 2021-02-18 12:09:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21610675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jennsepticeye/pseuds/Jennsepticeye
Summary: Entry #88Posted two months after Entry #87[Start Video Description]“Entry #88” Displays over a black screen before the video begins.The video opens with the camera pointed out Tim’s windshield, similar to the end of Entry #87. He’s on the highway and the sun is setting. The radio isn’t on. The only sound is the white noise of the road.Like early entries, white text overlays the footage.“Everything is fine.”
Relationships: Jay/Timothy "Tim" W.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 56





	Life's Alright in Devil Town

**Author's Note:**

> Did i write nearly 5k for a fandom that hasn't been active since i was 12? Absolutely.  
> I am prepared to get exactly zero reads on this fic but whatever.
> 
> It's a really strange style, I know, but it fits the source material.
> 
> I was serious about the trigger warning though. Careful.
> 
> Title from Cavetown's "Devil Town"

Entry #88

Posted two months after Entry #87

[Start Video Description]

“Entry #88” Displays over a black screen before the video begins.

The video opens with the camera pointed out Tim’s windshield, similar to the end of Entry #87. He’s on the highway and the sun is setting. The radio isn’t on. The only sound is the white noise of the road.

Like early entries, white text overlays the footage.

“Everything is fine.”

“It’s been four months since…”

“Everyone is gone.”

“Brian. Alex…”

“Jay”

The footage switches to nighttime. As the car passes the Tennessee border sign more text overlays the footage.

“I’m running away.”

“I just want it to stop.”

“Hopefully that thing can’t find me here.”

“Somewhere far, far away.”

“The one good thing….”

“I miss Jay.”

“Is this my fault?”

The footage changes again. It’s foggy early dawn. Tim has been driving through the night. The footage takes place in a rundown suburban neighborhood. Tim pulls the car into a driveway, the headlights shut off and the screen goes black.

[End Video Description]

Entry #89

[Start Video Description]

“Entry #89” displays over a black screen before the video begins.

The video opens from a low angle to Tim smoking on his porch. It’s nighttime, and snow is falling behind him in the background. Like before, white text overlays the footage.

“I keep dreaming about the pond.”

“About drowning.”

“About that _thing_ at the center of it all.”

The footage shifts again, and the camera is aimed out a windshield as Tim drives through the woods. It’s snowed recently and it’s sunny. The only sound is the white noise of the car. It’s a little unnerving. More text appears.

“Before I wasn’t ever alone.”

“Someone was always watching me.”

“Now it’s too quiet.”

“I’m so alone.”

“I thought it would be different.”

The footage changes again. This time Tim is on his sofa watching TV. He looks tired. There’s more text before the film ends.

“This sucks.”

[End Video Description]

Entry #90

[Start Video Description]

“Entry #90” displays on a black screen before the video begins.

This video starts facing Tim where he sits on the sofa. Daylight is visible outside the window. He looks exhausted and he avoids looking at the lens of the camera. He stares at his hands. When he speaks it’s raspy from disuse and cigarettes.

Tim: I don’t know why I’m still uploading here. It doesn’t matter much, does it? I’m the only one left.

Tim: Maybe I just need to get all this stuff out of my head.

Tim: I feel like I’m not alone anymore. I honestly can’t tell which is worse. The isolation or the sense that I’m being watched.

Tim: I keep seeing someone. Not that _thing_. I don’t see it anymore. Surprise. All of my childhood issues could have been solved by moving.

Tim shakes his head, seemingly trying to get back on track. He sighs before continuing.

Tim: Maybe this is just some new form of crazy, some new hallucination, but I keep seeing a man. Just out of the corner of my eye and then he’s gone. I know it’s the same one because–“

Whoever he’s talking about clearly causes him stress. He glances around behind the camera and then back at his hands.

Tim: Because he’s got this fucking _mask._

He pauses, then grabs something out of frame.

Tim: It looks like this

He holds a paper with a drawing up to the camera. It’s a sketch of the mask. It has big eyes, with crudely drawn eyebrows and four teeth. It’s eerie looking. Tim puts down the paper before continuing to speak.

Tim: I thought I was done with all this masked man bullshit. After I lost Jay, I thought I could just run away and never think about it again.

Tim: But it just keeps coming back, and I don’t know if I can deal with it on my own anymore.

Tim: I’m going to stop taking my meds. If this is something related to the *air quotes* ‘Operator´ then at least I’ll know. Then I’ll move again.

Tim: I guess we’ll see.

[End Video Description]

Alarm

Three days after Entry #90 is posted a response is uploaded to the ToTheArk channel.

[Start Video Description]

The video begins with black and white footage of D-Day on Okinawa. The audio is a severely distorted version of Irving Berlin’s ‘How Deep is the Ocean?’

Footage is distorted then overlaid with semitransparent modern footage, assumed to be from the perspective of the poster.

The secondary footage is first person perspective of someone walking through the woods. He faces the abandoned hospital and then turns

The footage is corrupted and when it returns the camera is facing a suburban neighborhood

White pixel text flashes in the bottom right of the screen before it ends.

“HE CAN SEE YOU NOW”

“I HOPE YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING”

[End Video Description]

Entry #91

[Start Video Description]

“Entry #91” displays on a black screen before the video begins

The video is shot surveillance style in Tim’s bedroom with Tim sleeping in the bed. The bedside lamp is on to allow the camera to see. For several minutes the footage is normal, and Tim continues to sleep soundly.

There’s heavy audio and visual distortion. When it clears enough to make sense the Masked Man is in the room, behind Tim and facing the camera. It’s not dissimilar to Entry #19 where the other masked figure watches a sleeping Jay.

The footage distorts several times. Each time it clears the Masked Man is in a different place, making it seem like he’s teleporting around the room.

The audio screeches and the footage switches again. In the subsequent clip the Masked Man walks in from out of frame. He walks slowly, as if in pain.

He stops at Tim’s bedside. He’s carrying Alex’s gun in his right hand, but he doesn’t use it. Instead he sets the gun on the bedside table and pulls the covers over Tim’s shoulders. The footage distorts again, and the Masked Man disappears leaving Tim tucked in and the gun on the table.

The footage cuts to all black and a single sentence appears before the video ends.

“What the fuck”

[End Video Description]

Entry #01010111 01101000 01101111

In response to Entry #91 another video is posted on the Marble Hornets channel. The style is reminiscent of the ‘hacked’ video Entry ####

[Start Video Description]

The video opens with a high contrast close up of the Masked Man. His eyes are visible behind the mask and they gaze around wildly, unfocused.

There’s a voice recorded over the footage, not part of the original clip. The voice is distorted and unrecognizable, but still understandable.

Masked Man: Who are you?

Masked Man: A twin? An enemy? A friend?

The footage switches to a distorted, black and white shot from Tim’s near drowning experience. The contrast is high, and the audio is missing. The voice is less distorted but still unrecognizable.

Masked Man: I know you

Masked Man: Why?

Masked Man: You do not know me.

Masked Man: You are…

There’s a long pause of complete silence before the Masked Man speaks again. His tone isn’t menacing. He seems confused, a little lost, and curious.

Masked Man: Alone.

The footage switches a final time to a clip of a masked Tim running at the camera man, again in black and white with high contrast. It’s unfamiliar and it is unknown when the footage takes place. There’s heavy green distortion before the video ends.

[End Video Description]

The summary of the video is as follows:

“Regards,

Skully”

Entry #92

The next video is posted a week later to the Marble Hornets channel.

[Star Video Description]

“Entry #92” displays over a black screen before the footage begins

The video begins with Tim smoking outside a convenience store. He looks exhausted and worn down from the ordeals

After a few seconds the footage switches to the perspective of the chest mounted camera. He’s walking down the stairs in his own home and spots the Masked Man, Skully on the landing. He gives chase to the sound of audio distortion and static.

Skully runs out of the front door and the distortion increases. Before Tim can catch up, he has a coughing fit, collapsing on the lawn. He manages to stand and retreats back into the house and takes some of his meds.

The scene switches, and Tim is sitting on the sofa, filmed from the perspective of the handheld camera. There’s a knock at the door. Tim picks up the camera and answers the door. It’s dark outside, but there’s no one on the porch. There’s a note on the door, presumably from Skully, scribbled in Sharpie marker.

“GO WHERE IT ALL ENDED”

The letter O has an X scribbled through it.

The screen goes black

[End Video Description]

The summary of the video reads as follows:

“I guess I’m going home”

Entry #93

This video is posted the day after Entry #92

[Start Video Description]

“Entry #93” displays on a black screen before the video begins.

The video begins again with Tim’s camera pointed out the windshield. It’s ambiguously either early dawn or late dusk. There are hardly any other drivers on the empty stretch of highway. Tim is driving in silence.

After a few seconds text appears over the footage

“I promised I wouldn’t look back.”

“I just wanted to escape.”

“I should have known”

The footage jump cuts. The sun is higher in the sky and the car passes the Alabama border sign. There’s a light dusting of snow on the shoulder. More text appears.

“I’ve been driving all night.”

“I just want to get this over with”

The footage cuts again. Tim is back at the abandoned Benedict hall. There’s mild audio distortion as he enters. It’s in its usual state of disrepair, but there’s no sign of another person or the events that occurred at the end of the original series.

In a classroom on the second floor is a cryptic display. The wall is covered in “operator pages” stained in blood. It can be assumed they are the same pages from under Jay’s corpse in Entry #83

In an empty space in the pages hangs Skully’s mask. Tim approaches the mask before distortion takes over the audio and visual. Tim starts coughing and the camera swings around to point out the window where the Operator can be seen.

Tim starts to cough harder and sprints from the building, the camera swinging wildly and filled with distortion.

The footage cuts to a shot pointing at the road as Tim drives. Skully is visible along the side of the road, just standing as Tim drives past. Tim doesn’t comment, apparently not noticing. Text flashes over the image.

“I shouldn’t have gone back.”

[End Video Description]

Entry #94

The Marble Hornets channel is silent for three weeks after the upload of Entry #93. There’s no explanation given.

[Start Video Description]

“Entry #94” displays over a black screen before the video begins

The video opens with Tim walking around a small store. It’s decorated with Christmas paraphernalia. Tim buys more film for the camera and pays in cash.

The footage cuts to Tim driving. The camera, like in Entry #87, is pointing at his face. He looks ragged and greasy, like he hasn’t slept in days.

Tim turns the wheel and the stops the car. He grabs the camera off the dash and the footage resumes a normal first-person perspective. Tim has returned to his house, presumably not for the first time since Entry #93.

There is mild static distortion as he walks to the front door. Tim stops suddenly. Hanging on the front door is the mask Tim had thrown away months previous. He lifts the mask with a shaking hand. Taped to the inside is a note, in the same scribbled handwriting.

“FORGOTTEN?”

“ON PURPOSE?”

“WHY?”

As in the previous note, the Os are scribbled over with Xs

The camera drops to Tim’s waist as he’s no longer aiming it. The sound of him yelling can be heard before distortion takes over the film

When focus returns the same footage is playing, this time the camera is aimed at the door from the edge of the woods. As Tim drops his own camera it’s revealed that he ripped the note and the mask off the door and threw them into the bushes in anger.

Tim turns his back to the door and yells “Stop it!” before retreating into his home.

Distortion takes over again and Tim’s camera is on the kitchen counter. Tim opens a pill bottle and takes a suspiciously large amount before opening a beer.

The footage cuts to another camera in the bedroom. Tim doesn’t bother taking off his shoes before getting into bed on top of the messy covers.

In the bottom right of the screen text flashes in the usual ToTheArk font.

“I’m sorry.”

It can be assumed that the apology is being directed at Tim and was not edited into the footage by him.

[End Video Description]

For the Birds

Just hours after Entry #94 is uploaded, a response is posted on ToTheArk

[Start Video Description]

The camera is on the ground in the woods, facing a small waterfall. The saturation is too high but otherwise the distortion is minimal.

Skully walks into frame from behind the camera. He seems to favor one side as he walks towards the waterfall.

Fully clothed, including the mask, Skully steps under the water. It’s clearly frigid as there are still icicles on the rock face and snow on the ground.

Almost immediately Skully falls to his knees, coughing. He pulls up his mask, but not enough to see his face. He continues to cough for several minutes as the saturation continues to rise. Once nothing can be made out the footage switches.

The following clip is clearly from another source since there is no distortion, and the weather is summer-like in the background. It’s apparently from a documentary as a narrator starts talking over the footage of a blue jay landing on a green bird feeder.

Narrator: The Blue Jay is one of North America’s most recognizable birds.

The same few seconds of footage continues to loop as Skully’s voice replaces the narrator, sad in tone.

Skully: I know you

Skully: The twin, but not the twin.

Skully: The good one

Skully: The bad one

Skully: What am I but a replacement for you?

There’s a single frame of Skully’s mask and of Tim’s. The footage switches again.

This time its recycled footage from Alex’s film project with heavy audio and visual distortion. Tim is center frame, smoking a cigarette and talking to someone off camera. It’s impossible to make out what they’re saying. The audio volume lowers before Skully speaks again.

Skully: Why…?

Skully: Why does he care so much about you?

Skully: Infighting

The footage ends with a clip from the previous entry of Tim taking several antipsychotics. There’s one word written at the bottom.

“CAREFUL”

[End Video Description]

Entry #94

This video is posted a week after For the Birds.

[Start Video Description]

“Entry #94” displays on a black screen before the video begins

When the footage opens Tim is smoking on the porch, the camera pointed at him from the railing. It’s clearly cold and Tim has been sitting outside for a while based on how red his fingers and face are.

He doesn’t speak, like usual, and text appears on screen.

“Something has been bothering me about this ‘Skully’ character.”

“He’s familiar.”

“Not from when I had the mask.”

“Just… in general.”

The footage changes. Tim is inside his house again and his clothes have changed. This footage is from a different day than the first clip. Tim looks slightly less tired but is still worn down. He walks into the kitchen and starts cooking something. It seems he’s been falling into the same habits of Alex, and then Jay. He’s been filming himself constantly in paranoia. More text appears on screen.

“He says I don’t know him, but…”

“It doesn’t sound right.”

“I have a hunch about him.”

“I don’t know what I’ll do if I’m wrong”

“Or if I’m right.”

The footage cuts abruptly and the video ends.

[End Video Description]

Entry #96

[Start Video Description]

“Entry #96” displays over a black screen before the video begins

The video starts with Tim walking around unidentified woods following a small game trail. The camera is pointed low to the ground as if he can’t be bothered. Text overlays the footage.

“I’ve decided to try and find him.”

“I don’t know where to start looking.”

The footage switches again to point out of Tim’s windshield. The car isn’t moving, instead it’s parked at the edge of Game lands. Tim is leaning against the hood and smoking a cigarette. His face isn’t visible, but his shoulders look tense. More text appears.

“but I can’t stand the waiting.”

The footage cuts again to Tim chasing Skully in the trees. He chases Skully around a stone wall, and when Tim rounds the corner Skully has disappeared. Tim cusses and kicks the wall.

“It’s like he’s always out of reach.”

The footage changes to the middle of the day. Tim has found a slightly burnt out, but mostly intact two-story house in the woods. He wanders into the upstairs bathroom where there’s blood in the sink and a few pill bottles along the edge. They all have different unfamiliar people’s names on them. The mirror above the sink is intact and fairly clean. There’s just enough light to make out Tim’s reflection. He’s wearing Jay’s token cap.

Finding nothing substantial Tim wanders out of the bathroom. He finds a bedroom with makeshift accommodations. There’s a bedframe covered in dirty blankets and there are Operator pages and water bottles scattered around the room. Apparently Skully has been living in the abandoned house.

Tim returns downstairs and heads to the burnt-out kitchen. A noise is heard off camera and Tim turns to spot Skully in the doorway. The audio spikes and glitches. Skully’s body language is weak, and he’s leaning against the door frame. Tim tries to reach out but Skully brandishes a piece of lumber and chases him from the house

The footage changes one last time to Tim smoking on his porch from the perspective of the chest mounted camera. Tim presumably sees something because he jumps up and runs at the tree line where Skully stands. Tim shouts after him.

Tim: Hey, wait!

Skully turns and runs into the woods. Tim gives chase and the audio becomes distorted and the footage glitches. Tim yells again, through the loud static it’s barely understandable as Jay’s name. Skully hesitates, stumbling, before shaking his had and running. Tim loses track of him shortly after. The footage cuts abruptly.

[End Video Description]

Too Close

[Start Video Description]

The video opens with footage of the outside of Tim’s house at night, filmed from the edge of the woods. Skully’s voice is edited over the footage.

Skully: How do I know I can trust you?

Skully: The other twin did not. That much is obvious.

The footage momentarily switches to Jay’s footage from the hospital. “He is a liar” Is written in permanent marker on a peeling green wall. The footage changes back to Tim’s house as the sun is rising. The film is heavily saturated.

Skully: You wear so many caps

The film jump cuts to the preceding entry of Tim’s reflection wearing Jay’s cap

Skully: So many faces.

The footage changes to the clip of Tim throwing his own mask into a dumpster

Skully: I wonder which one is really yours?

[End Video Description]

Entry #97

[Start Video Description]

“Entry #97” displays on a black screen before the video begins

The video opens with Tim sitting in a diner. He looks worn out and there are dark shadows under his eyes. There’s a large picture window behind him and after a few seconds Skully can be seen walking past the window. He pauses, makes eye contact with the camera, then moves on.

In the next shot Tim is out in the woods from the perspective of the handheld camera. Tim yells and throws the camera. The footage then cuts out and switches to the perspective of the chest mounted camera. Tim continues to scream.

Tim: What do you want?! Why are you doing this?!

Tim: I can’t take it anymore Jay! I’m tired and I want this shit behind me!

Tim: So if it’s you just tell me! Stop taunting me!

Tim screams again and falls to his knees. For a few seconds he can be heard crying before the footage cuts again.

Tim is sitting in front of his TV. His hair is unkempt, and he looks exhausted and apathetic. He’s holding Jay’s hat in his hands. White text is edited over the footage.

“I don’t know how much longer I can do this”

[End Video Description]

Entry #98

There’s a month-long gap in uploads before another video is posted the following spring.

[Start Video Description]

“Entry #98” displays over a black screen before the video begins

The video starts with footage similar to Entry #91. Tim is sleeping with the bedside lamp on, allowing the camera a clear view of the room. Skully walks into frame, accompanied by less distortion than before. He turns and faces the camera, then shuts the light off.

In the next scene the camera is on a table facing Tim. He’s in a public library for unknown reasons. Through the bookshelves in the background Skully’s mask becomes visible for a few seconds before walking away.

The footage changes again to Tim cooking in his kitchen. The sky is dark outside the window behind him. After a few moments Skully’s mask peeks through the window, barely illuminated. The audio spikes and Skully ducks away, just as Tim turns to look.

The footage jump cuts. The camera is pointed out of Tim’s windshield as he drives through the woods. It’s hazy with early morning fog, and the whole scene feels eerie. After a few seconds Skully can be spotted standing along the edge of the road. Tim drives past him, swears, slams on the breaks then points the camera out the back window. Skully has vanished.

The footage switches a final time to, once again, point at Tim watching TV on the sofa. A dark empty doorway is visible behind him. It stays empty for several minutes. Then, suddenly, Skully appears from the shadows. Tim doesn’t notice until Skully loses his footing and slumps against the door frame.

For the first time Skully doesn’t try to fight or escape when Tim approaches. He doesn’t react when Tim grabs his shoulders or when he pushes off the hood. When Tim finally pulls off the mask, Jay’s face is in view for just a moment before his eyes roll back and he passes out.

[End Video Description]

Entry #99

This entry is posted one day after #98

[Start Video Description]

“Entry #99” displays on a black screen before the video begins

The opening shot shows Tim carrying Jay into the bedroom from the usual bedroom camera perspective. Tim has Jay’s arm over his shoulders, but Jay is completely unconscious. Tim lays him on the bed, takes off Jay’s shoes and jacket, and sits on the floor next to the bed.

The footage speeds up to show time passing. The clock on the bedside table speeds through seven hours in which Tim only leaves the room for a couple minutes every few hours.

Like before, white text overlays the footage.

“He’s been asleep for eighteen hours now”

“I’m editing this in the meantime.”

“If he doesn’t wake up soon, I’m taking him to the hospital.”

“I hope to god this is the end.”

The footage ends with Tim standing up and grabbing the camera from its mount.

[End Video Description]

Entry #100

[Start Video Description]

“Entry #100” Displays on a black screen before the video begins

When the footage begins the camera is closer than in the previous entry. Jay is still lying in the bed and Tim is still sitting against the bed, now with a laptop in his lap. The footage is playing at normal speed and for several minutes Tim continues to type on his computer without interruption.

After a few minutes pass in silence, Jay begins to stir. He takes a deep breath, at which point Tim notices, putting the laptop aside and sitting on the bed next to Jay.

Tim: Hey. You with me?

Jay: Hm…?

Tim: Are you awake?

Jay: Tim?

Tim: *chuckles* Yeah. Am I talking to Jay or Skully?

Jay sits up in the bed, squinting. He looks awestruck and holds Tim’s face in his hands. Tim lets him.

Jay: It’s me. *laughs* It’s just me.

Tim: Oh, thank god

Tim, rid of any wariness, hugs Jay. They both start crying, relieved to see one another. After a few moments Tim pulls away just to pull Jay back in and kiss him. They’re both smiling and crying too much to make anything decent of it.

Tim: *frantically* I heard the gunshot. I saw your body. I was so fucking scared.

Jay: I’m fine. I don’t know how but I’m fine. I think it scarred something awful though.

Tim: God, you look like death warmed over. *laughs* What happened?

Jay: I– I don’t– I don’t know. _It_ had control and then _you._ It didn’t want me following you, but I did and it kept making me forget. *hyperventilating*

Tim: Jay. Jaybird. It’s okay. Just breathe.

Jay: After I followed you here, I remembered more, and it wasn’t there and then you went back, and I forgot again. You– You kept uploading to the channel. I saw the videos.

Tim: *chuckles* I saw yours too.

Jay: *snorts* Those half coherent ramblings?

At this point Jay notices the nearby camera and laughs. He points at it.

Jay: Shit, did my paranoia rub off on you?

Tim: Ha! Maybe. C’mon. Let’s get you cleaned up. You gotta be hungry.

The footage cuts out without warning.

[End Video Description]

Entry #Epilogue

[Start Video Description]

“Entry #Epilogue” displays on a black screen before the video begins

The video opens with Tim picking up the camera from the counter and turning it on himself, vlog style. He walks through the house and sits down on the sofa next to Jay, who was dozing there. He’s wrapped in several blankets and his token cap is pulled low over his eyes.

Jay wakes up and notices the camera before turning his gaze on Tim.

Jay: *smiling* Put that shit away. Oh, my god.

Tim: *smiling* I don’t think I will. Your channel has half a million subscribers. We can’t just leave them on a cliff hanger. Tell ‘em how you’re doing Jaybird.

Jay: *rolling his eyes* Fine, I sleep _all the time_ , I’m constantly nauseous, I feel like I’m on the verge of hypothermia, and my obnoxious _boyfriend_ won’t stop waking me up.

Tim: Yeah, but you like me anyway.

Jay: Unfortunately.

Tim: *smiles* Alright, I’m gonna start dinner. I’ll wake you up in a little bit.

Tim sets the camera on the counter where Jay is visible in the background. The audio fades out and white text overlays the image.

“We’re still dealing with some stuff”

“I’m not sure if it’s over or not”

“This all seems kind of anti-climactic.”

“Maybe that’s a good thing”

The screen cuts to black and the video ends.

[End Video Description]

**Author's Note:**

> I might add a bonus chapter in my regular writing format later. Just bonus scenes or retelling of scenes on camera.
> 
> There's also art on my tumblr that you can find here.
> 
> https://jennsepticeye.tumblr.com/post/189343021352/im-reposting-this-bc-i-kept-adding-to-it-and-i 
> 
> Kudos and Comments make the world go round.


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